JERUSALEM – Israel's leader is accusing the Lebanese Hezbollah group of launching the drone aircraft that entered Israeli airspace earlier this week.

The unmanned aircraft was shot down by Israel, but the infiltration marked a rare breach of Israel's airspace. No one has taken responsibility, but Hezbollah has been the leading suspect because of its arsenal of sophisticated Iranian weapons and a history of trying to deploy similar aircraft.

Touring southern Israel on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the efforts to prevent land infiltrations from Egypt. He mentioned that Israel has been equally successful "in the air, just like we thwarted the Hezbollah attempt last weekend," his first public statement blaming Hezbollah.

Israel says the drone was not carrying explosives and appeared to be on a reconnaissance mission.